Most of those who booked tickets for the 2008 Olympics are male and young, according to a report released by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

A student turns a somersault near one of the mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games at an Olympic education model school in Miyun County of Beijing June 8, 2007. [Reuters]

Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee (BOCOG) adopted a random distribution system in tickets booking, which means lottery will help to decide whose applications will turn out into real tickets.

Based on a poll of 2,203 replies collected from China's portal, the CNNIC report found men account for 86.7 percent of all who made online bookings, while women made the rest 13.3 percent.

Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of both the men and women are aged between 18-40, leaving only 7.6 percent above 40, and 2.1 percent below 18.

Besides age and gender imbalances, there's also a disparity in occupation and where the bookings are from.

Although farmers and migrant workers make up more than half of the Chinese population, they only account for 1.4 percent of all online bookings, while students constituted the biggest group with 22.7 per cent.

The host city Beijing leads all provinces across China in the numbers of bookings. Together with the country's relatively developed east provinces, they have make up 70.2 percent of bookings.

Of those surveyed, oOne in two among all have made applicationsapplied for tickets for the Games opening ceremony, while basketball is the most popular requested sports appearing in 40 percent of all applications. Soccer, diving, ping pangtable tennis, and tracks and fields trail behind.

CNNIC, a web researching and managing body under China's Ministry of Information Industry, released the report on July 2 after the first session of Games ticket bookings was completed on June 30.

The second session reopens in October.